Dutch Turks For Geert Wilders

Oh, this is getting wild right now in the Netherlands. The Dutch government refused to let a plane carrying the Turkish foreign minister land, and declined to let another minister in the Ankara government address a political rally of Dutch Turks scheduled for Rotterdam. Reuters reports:

The Netherlands barred Turkey’s foreign minister from landing in Rotterdam on Saturday in a row over Ankara’s political campaigning among Turkish emigres, leading President Tayyip Erdogan to brand the fellow NATO member a “Nazi remnant”.

The extraordinary incident came hours after Mevlut Cavusoglu said he would fly to Rotterdam despite being banned from a rally there to marshal support for sweeping new powers Erdogan seeks. Europe, he said, must be rid of its “boss-like attitude”.

Cavusoglu, who was barred from a similar meeting in Hamburg last week but spoke instead from the Turkish consulate, accused the Dutch of treating the many Turkish citizens in the country like “hostages”, cutting them off from Ankara.

“I sent them so they could contribute to your economy,” he told CNN Turk TV, days ahead of Dutch polls where immigration may play a significant part. “They’re not your captives.”

“If my going will increase tensions, let it be … I am a foreign minister and I can go wherever I want,” he added hours before his planned flight to Rotterdam was banned.

Got that, Netherlands? Your country is not your own. Turkey claims some form of sovereignty. You might have wanted the Turks and their authoritarian president R.T. Erdogan to keep their national political campaigning outside of Holland, but really, who are you to tell people from other nations what they can and cannot do in your own country? More from Reuters:

Addressing a rally of supporters, Erdogan retaliated.

“Listen Netherlands, you’ll jump once, you’ll jump twice, but my people will thwart your game,” he said. “You can cancel our foreign minister’s flight as much as you want, but let’s see how your flights will come to Turkey now.”

“They don’t know diplomacy or politics. They are Nazi remnants. They are fascists,” he added.

I think the Turks must want to elect this guy. The Dutch vote in national elections on Wednesday. Even if Wilders’s party comes out on top, he is unlikely to be able to form a coalition government. Still, it would be quite a statement.

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27 Responses to Dutch Turks For Geert Wilders

Very plausible. We’re far past the point where Turkey is going to be a serious candidate for EU membership (which I doubt they seriously want anymore). A Netherlands run by Wilders or a France run by le Pen would be a very useful foil for Erdogan.

I can’t think of any reason that one country should allow officials of another country to enter its borders in order to campaign among emigres residing in the country for any given political outcome, whether in domestic politics or the politics of the country of origin. There are many points relating to immigration that are worthy of debate and careful consideration. This is not one of them. Geert Wilders is an irresponsible rabble rouser, but so is Erdogan. Maybe they do have something in common, rather like Trump and Putin, or Hussein al-Takriti and Joseph Stalin.

Well, although my government does have the right to deny access to the foreign minister of a allied country who wishes to talk to citizens, it is highly irregular and very provocative.

For some reason both parties decided to play hardball.

I’m not so sure wether Wilders will profit all that much. Almost all political parties criticized the Turkish referendum and the planned visit, and praised the governments decision to deny entry to the foreign minister. Wilders isn’t exactly unique in this regard.

Erdogan has some set of balls saying this, considering how his people committed a genocide which inspired Hitler, which Erdogan doesn’t allow to be discussed in his country. How many Turks have the Dutch killed, versus how many Armenians the Turks killed?

Waving a Dutch flag in Turkey. Advertising for Geert Wilders on Taksim Square. Offending publicly the whole Turkish government and calling you remnants of Nazi’s. Demonstrating, disobeying and provoking the police and disturbing the local public order….Dear members of the Turkish Parlement; “HOW WOULD YOU FEEL AND HOW WOULD YOU REACT?” Best regards a Dutch living in Izmir.

The effect won’t be so much to help Wilders, whose party (literally a party of one person for legal purposes) isn’t set up for anything other than furthering his career as a gadfly.

What it will do is shift the discourse further about immigrants in the Netherlands. It’s possible that it will shift in Wilders’ direction and the problem will be seen as being about Islam. But it’s more likely that the problem will be seen as being political– that is, as a conflict with the AKP and the nascent Turkish single-party state rather than with Turks or Muslims specifically (after all, Rotterdam’s mayor is of a Muslim background). The Dutch seem to be more anxious than most western Europeans about problems of dual nationality leading to dual loyalty, and so this spectacle of a Turkish political rally for Erdogan, a politician hated by the left for his fascism and by the right for his Islamism, will lead to more debate about what to do about making sure immigrants are solely or primarily loyal to the Dutch state.

In terms of the election, my money is on Denk (the pro-AKP party of Turkish immigrants) getting at least as much a bump, proportionately, as Wilders, if not more.

Did I see that the Turks threatened to….Restrict Dutch who want too come to Turkey??? Oh, the cruelty, the inhuman suffering! First the Dutch. And I said nothing. Then the Turks restricted travel by Belgians, and I said nothing. And who will speak for ME when the Turks will not let ME come to Turkey??

Funny how the Turks, Wikileaks and the Russians seem to be involved in a lot of “surprises” that could construed as attempts to bolster nativist politicians just before elections, isn’t it? And how closely tied a lot of Trump’s gang are to Turkey, Russia and Wikileaks?

In the case of the Netherlands, I think it will be a bust – P.M. Rutte’s robust response has gone down well and left Wilders looking ineffectual.

A belated “Happy Birthday, Jon!” from me as well. Did Rod wish you “Happy Birthday, Friend!” in Dutch? And did you wish the people of The Netherlands much good luck in their native tongue? I know some German, and I’ve noticed that there are few words in Dutch that don’t look like their English and/or German equivalents, so that’s my best guess.

JonF,
When did high hair connect with low morals?
I remember a time when pretty much every southern lady had” big hair.” Or perhaps you meant something else?
Taking the time to do your hair nicely was a statement of taking pride in your appearance.
But sorry if I misunderstood your comments.

but we are seeing similar interference from the Mexican government in our country

As far as I have read, Mexican consulates have set up voting stations for Mexican nationals living in the United States who wish to vote in Mexican elections. I have not read that they are holding rallies on American territory to whip up enthusiasm for any given candidate or referendum measure.

The BBC News had an interview with a Dutch woman who was asked about what had happened to the progressive culture that had flourished previously. She basically said that after you take every kind of drug and sleep with everyone because you can, you’re left wondering what it’s all about.
I think the Dutch are trying to find out who they are,where they’re going, and where their culture went.

Well, the returns are in, and Wilders did not perform a stunning upset. He’s still in the mix. I do think the morning papers were stretching the truth to say that the leader of the present coalition government “won.” Getting between 30 and 40 seats in a 150 seat parliament, even if it is a plurality, leaves a great deal to be negotiated.